Recently, the pedestrian-centric paradigm shift in urban planning has become one of the main issues of urban regeneration and revitalization. As the site of various activities related to leisure, culture, commerce and business among other things, stre...
Recently, the pedestrian-centric paradigm shift in urban planning has become one of the main issues of urban regeneration and revitalization. As the site of various activities related to leisure, culture, commerce and business among other things, streets play a very important role for successful policymaking in this new paradigm. While the concept of a street was limited in the past to its structural role in forming the framework of the city, with an emphasis being places on its function as pedestrian pathway, present-day cities emphasize its publicness for cultural diversity in the city, as a public space for human communities.
In particular, the streets in the station influence areas connect other means of transportation for concentrated land use around the area. As such, the revitalization of such streets through walking is very important in order to stimulate local revitalization, including the commercial spheres in the surrounding alleys, and change in the surrounding land uses. However, building uses and the street design elements need to be differentiated according to the street type for pedestrian-friendly street revitalization, as the streets in the station influence areas vary in terms of their types and characteristics depending on the status of the surrounding land uses.
Therefore, this study categorized the types of streets according to the features of land use in the station influence areas, and analyzed the effects of the physical properties of the streets and the purpose of the buildings for each type of street in a street revitalization project. To accomplish this, the study set pedestrian volume as a quantitative indicator of street revitalization in 273 subway station influence areas in Seoul to specifically and positively analyze the relationship between the building uses and physical properties of streets as the factors affecting this indicator.
With references to the related legislations and case studies, this study set the scope of the station influence areas within 500m, and the scope of the walking ranges in these areas within a radius of 50m and 100m. Based on this scope, the types of streets were categorized, through a cluster analysis on the gross area ratio for each building use, into the residence-centered type, commercial type, and business·public and other mixed types within 50m and 100m of walking range. This result suggests the need for microscopic analyses and research on streets that considers their varying types, even in a single station influence area.
To analyze the relationships among the factors affecting street revitalization in the station influence areas, a regression analysis was carried out using pedestrian volume as a dependent variable, as a quantitative indicator for street revitalization. For the independent variables, the index of land use mix and commercial purpose of the first floor were used for the variables for building use, while the street type, fence, bus stops, sidewalk width, slope, subway passengers, and distance to subway entrances, etc. were used for the variables of the physical features of the street.
Analytical findings on the relationships between building use types and physical properties of streets affecting pedestrian volume in station influence areas
Among the variables on the building uses in the 50m and 100m scopes of the pedestrian spheres, increases in the gross area for commercial use on the first floor had the largest positive (+) effect on pedestrian volume. With regard to land use mix, the more singular the uses were, the more pedestrian volume increased, with the largest negative (-) effect. This suggests that the pedestrian volume in the streets in the station influence areas is more affected by the building uses than by the physical properties of the streets. The more the commercial uses increase in the bottom levels, the more pedestrian volume increases, but the generally expected diversity of the building uses does not necessarily stimulate an increase in pedestrian volume. Regarding the relationship with the physical properties of the streets, it was analyzed that the pedestrian volumes were high on wide streets, safe and flat streets with fences between the sidewalk and roads, streets that are close to subway entrances, and streets offering convenient transfers to nearby bus stops with a large floating population and public transportation users, as pedestrian-only streets where the sidewalk and road are separated.
These physical characteristics of the streets were significant as the control variables for this study, for their similarity with the findings of the previous studies and general predictions for pedestrian volume increases. Therefore, the physical properties of the streets were excluded as a variable for verification for generalization on the relationship between the building use types and street pedestrian volumes. As a variable on building use type, the analysis on the relationship between the index of land use mix / commerce in first floors and the pedestrian volumes showed the negative influence of the index of land use mix (-) and positive influence of the gross area for commerce on first floors, as shown by the previous analysis.
Analytical findings on the relationship between building uses and physical elements of streets affecting pedestrian volumes for each street type in station influence areas depending onthe land use type
The pedestrian volumes in the residence-focused streets and commercial streets increased when the index of land use mix was lower and the commercial area in the first floor was wider; i.e. all entire streets in the station influence areas within the 50m and 100m scopes of the pedestrian spheres. Therefore, stimulation of commercial uses in the bottom levels should be considered a more important design element for these types of streets than the diversity of building uses. With regard to the physical properties of the street, segregation between the sidewalk and roads and the width of the sidewalk are important to enhance the stability and convenience of walking.
However, the gross area for the commercial purposes and index of land use mix were not significant or did not have a major impact on the public ? business and other mixed types of streets within the 50m and 100m scopes of the pedestrian spheres, unlike all streets in the station influence areas, residence-focused streets, and commercial streets, on which these factors had the largest effect. However, the subway-related factors such as the number of subway passengers and distance to a subway entrance had the largest impact of the physical properties of the street, probably because purposeful transit is more prevalent among pedestrians on this type of streets. Therefore, public buildings and facilities should be arranged near subway entrances, as the connections to public transit are more important to revitalize the public ? business and other mixed types of streets than stimulating a diversity of building uses and commercial uses in the bottom levels.
Analytical findings on the relationships among the factors affecting pedestrian volumes in each type of street and streets in station influence areas for street revitalization in these areas
Streets in the station influence areas should be studied, considering their segmented design elements by type and characteristic. It is not desirable to revitalize streets in the station influence areas through incentives and planning for mixed uses without considering the distinct characteristics of streets in Korea, which are generally more highly dense than in cities in other countries. Therefore, according to their characteristics, the streets need not only physical improvement but also active placement of commercial facilities in the bottom levels of the buildings and connections between public offices and public transit facilities for pedestrian-centered revitalization.
In terms of the physical design of the streets, walking stability should be strengthened by separating the sidewalk and roads and installing fences, while wide and flat sidewalks and a convenient public transit transfer system should be installed for pedestrians to revitalize the street. Planning for the building uses and street design according to the characteristics of each street type will stimulate street revitalization, change the surrounding land uses, and revitalize the local economy by increasing pedestrian volumes for successful urban regeneration.
However, urban planning on the current station influence areas and streets only proposes simple mixed use such as business facilities, commercial facilities, and conference spaces for street revitalization. It is suggested to adopt commercial facilities in the bottom levels of the buildings depending on the characteristics of the street, and to propose a set of guidelines on physical improvements and specific street design on the sidewalks. This study categorized the street types in the station influence areas in Seoul and positively analyzed the effect of the land use types and physical properties of the streets on street revitalization. It is expected that its findings can be used as baseline data for street revitalization for renewal planning and district unit planning in regions surrounding the station influence areas and existing urban districts.